Officials in the Israeli prime minister’s office reacted coolly on Wednesday to an indirect approach by the Hamas leader in Gaza offering talks on a truce.
The offer was relayed through an Israeli reporter, Sleman al-Shafhe, of Channel 2 television. On a news broadcast on Tuesday night, Mr. Shafhe said Ismail Haniya, the leader of the Hamas government in Gaza, had called him earlier in the day to convey a message to the Israelis.
According to Mr. Shafhe, Mr. Haniya said he had the ability to stop the rocket fire directed at Israel from Gaza, on condition that Israel stopped the killing of Palestinians there and lifted the blockade of Gaza.
Mr. Haniya’s call followed Israeli military strikes that killed at least 10 Palestinians in Gaza between Monday night and Tuesday morning, in a concerted effort to suppress the rocket fire. Eight of those killed were from Islamic Jihad, which has been responsible for most of the recent rocket fire, and included a top commander of the group’s military wing, Israeli officials said.
Two others were from Hamas, which has mainly limited itself to firing short-range mortar shells.
Hamas, which was at the vanguard of a suicide bombing campaign in Israel in recent years, calls in its charter for Israel’s destruction. Israel, like the United States and the European Union, classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization and refuses to deal with it.
Hamas seized power in Gaza in June, routing the Fatah forces there. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and Fatah chief, then fired the unity government that Mr. Haniya had led.
Israel has since tightened its relations with Mr. Abbas and the government he appointed in the West Bank, and has severely restricted the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza. Hamas, which won parliamentary elections in 2006, does not recognize the West Bank government.
In response to Mr. Haniya’s overture, Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said, “Our partner for dialogue is the legitimate Palestinian government,” meaning the one appointed by Mr. Abbas.
But Shaul Mofaz, Israel’s transport minister and a member of Kadima, Mr. Olmert’s party, did not rule out reaching an understanding with Hamas through a third party. “Mediation is something we can think about,” Mr. Mofaz, a former defense minister, said on Army Radio.
He added, though, that Israel would not stop its strikes against Hamas and other militant groups “for even one hour” as long as the rocket fire continued.
Mr. Haniya’s conversation with Mr. Shafhe was not recorded, but a Hamas government spokesman in Gaza, Taher Nunu, confirmed that Mr. Haniya had spoken about a truce.
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